This is the main thread for information on the demolition threat to parts of, and/or development plans for, the Calgary Brewing and Malting Site. Thread starts in June 2009. Most recent updates March 2012 on the third page of this thread.

Here is a pdf of the CALL TO ACTION, download it (right click on the link and choose "save link as" or "save target as") and email it to your friends, or print it out and hand it out to everyone you know!

It has come out that a demolition permit has been applied for at City Hall (Note: application made May 15, 2009) for demolition of a 'substantial' portion of the former Calgary Brewing & Malting Company site in Inglewood. This is a site of great historic significance, going back to 1892, and indeed there to this day remain historic structures from 1892 through the 1960's. As Inglewood is the birthplace of Calgary, so it must be said that the Brewery is one of the key birthplaces of Calgary industry, established by one of the "Big Four", AE Cross. The information about the extent of the demolition applied for is vague, sources have indicated it is 'substantial' and perhaps involving 2/3 of the built structures on the site, including many of heritage value. The Brewery is a Category A site on the city's Inventory of Evaluated Historic Resources. Due to this the City has asked the Province to order a Heritage Resource Impact Assessment (note corrected information), and indeed today June 8, 2009 the Ministry of Alberta Culture and Community Spirit issued a Historic Resource Impact Assessment Order to evaluate the site to determine its significance and integrity and to provide recommendations for the documentation, salvage and/or preservation of the site based upon the analysis of its significance and condition. This work must be completed prior to the start of any interventions that may impact the site or its setting.

The Calgary Heritage Initiative Society will be following up with information on action the public can take in the near future.

Description of Historic PlaceThe Calgary Brewing and Malting Co./Molsons Brewery is a cultural landscape comprising roughly 3 hectares in Calgary’s Alyth/Bonnybrook neighbourhood and encompassing 16 significant buildings, structures, landscape elements, and structural remains. The important structures still extant on the site were erected between 1892 and the early 1930s and include beer-making and storage facilities, office space, and a historic garden.

Heritage ValueThe heritage value of the Calgary Brewing and Malting Co./Molsons Brewery lies in its association with the early industrial development of Calgary and in the varied architectural design of its buildings. The site also possesses heritage value for its association with prominent Calgary entrepreneur and politician Alfred Ernest (A.E.) Cross (1861-1932).

In 1875, the North-West Territories Act was passed mandating, among other things, the prohibition of alcohol across the vast reaches of western Canada. Seventeen years later, in 1892, the Territorial Government repealed prohibition. At the time, Calgary was rapidly emerging as a bustling social and economic centre in southern Alberta, and local entrepreneurs believed robust profits could be found in slaking the community’s (now legal) thirsts. In the same year prohibition was repealed, A. E. Cross - one of Calgary’s first modern industrialists and an ambitious entrepreneur - assembled a cadre of financiers to establish the Calgary Brewing and Malting Company, Alberta’s first brewery.

Operations began in 1893 and the enterprise quickly proved successful. Over the succeeding two decades Cross re-invested the company’s profits into growth and diversification. New buildings were constructed, trade was expanded to other provinces, smaller breweries and hotels were acquired, and the company introduced soft drinks and aerated water into its product line. A confident expansionist, Cross was also a relentless modernizer; the Calgary Brewing and Malting Company was one of the first industrial users of natural gas in western Canada.

Between the 1910s and the 1950s, the company’s fortunes ebbed and flowed with World Wars One and Two, Prohibition between 1916 and 1923, and the Great Depression. By 1961, however, the company was beset by insurmountable challenges and was sold to Canadian Breweries. The site would subsequently pass through other owners and operators before ceasing production in 1994.

The significant buildings and structures of the Calgary Brewing and Malting Co./Molsons Brewery date from 1892 until the 1930s and feature an array of architectural visions. The earliest extant building, the 1892 Brew House and Ale Cellars , was designed by Otto Wolf, a Philadelphia-based architect and engineer. Comprising a post and beam structure with timber capitals and an exterior of rusticated sandstone and brick, the building is one of the earliest and most impressive industrial designs and constructions in Calgary.

It was significantly expanded in 1900. In 1904, the company initiated a major expansion. Bernard Barthel, a well-known architect of breweries throughout North America, visited Calgary in that year and provided designs for several new buildings. Though it has undergone significant alterations, the 1905 Brew House reflects Barthel’s aesthetic sensibility: simple and functional with enormous windows, the new building was distinguished by its lack of embellishment and its emphasis upon natural lighting. Its simplified architecture may reflect both Cross’ utilitarian ethic and the influence of the architectural styles of Chicago upon Barthel’s work. The 1905 Smokestack designed by Barthel is also distinctive, featuring corbelled brick at the top and imitating the appearance of a column, complete with base, shaft, and capital. It has been an icon of the site since its construction. Another architectural sensibility is evident in the 1907-08 Administration Building designed by the well-known Calgary architectural firm, Hodgson and Bates. The building is clearly an office structure, distinct from the industrial structures that surround it, and features an elegant marriage of brick walls and sandstone trim. The Administration Building’s most prominent feature is a relief sandstone carving of a buffalo head and horseshoe – the iconic logo of the company.

The 1930s witnessed two significant additions to the site. In the early 1930s, J. B. Cross, continuing his father’s legacy of community service, built a large garden adjacent to the brewery as a make work project for his Depression-era employees. Begun in 1932, the garden eventually included a variety of species of flora, fish hatcheries, waterfalls, and an 1875 Metis cabin brought to the site from near the original Fort Calgary. In the late 1930s, architect George Fordyce designed a pub in the Tudor Revival style that was incorporated into the east portion of the 1892 Brew House and Ale Celllars. The buildings, structures, and landscape elements at the site thus represent an evolution of both industrial facilities and architectural sensibilities.

Theme(s):Developing Economies: Extraction and Production
Expressing Intellectual and Cultural Life: Architecture and Design"

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Excerpt from Historic Walks of Calgary, Harry Sanders:

"Rancher Alfred Ernest Cross headed the group of businessmen who established the Calgary Brewing and Malting Company in 1892, the year prohibition ended in the NWT and licensed liquor sales began. (When prohibition returned to Alberta from 1916-24, the brewery sold soft drinks for domestic consumption but continued brewing beer for export.) The Calgary Brewery marketed its beers using a distinctive buffalo head label. Like other breweries in the province, it built up a chain of hotels where its product could be marketed. By the 1950s, the provincial government came to regard this practice as a monopoly and passed legislation requiring breweries to sell their hotels by 1967.
Besides its capacity as one of Inglewood's largest employers, the brewery was also an important component in the district's social and sporting life. It provided Depression relief work through the development of the Brewery gardens, fish hatchery, and trout ponds. The Calgary Brewery Cabin, a Metis or settler cabin originally located near the Hunt House, was relocated to the Brewery gardens in the 1930s as a relic of Calgary's origins. Further community endeavors included the Horseman's Hall of Fame museum and the salt-water aquarium that opened to the public in the 1960s. The museum closed in 1975, and the aquarium was shipped to Montreal.
The Calgary Brewing and Malting Company was sold to Canadian Breweries Ltd. in 1961, and, in 1989, it was taken over by Molson's Breweries. The plant was closed permanently in 1994."

Apology to user buffaloman, I accidently moved his comment to the history discussion thread, here was his comment:

"Being born and raised in Calgary and watching as building after building is being torn down i feel it is time for us to say enough. There are other places for development that are not on a busy rail line and have little or no historical value. The developers come in here and try to run roughshod all over us telling us its for the good of the city. This is just a money grab for them. There are areas that need upgrading and developing but because they are not in the popular areas of the city they are neglected by developers. We lose to many buildings for no good reason. I would like to see part of this site opened up again to the public as a type of local history museum. This would help to raise funds for upkeep and repairs. I have seen the aquarium through the glass doors and feel this would be a great place to start. If this were to happen i would happily move my entire Calgary brewery collection into the building. I think some other Calgary collectors would be pleased to do the same. This is something that concerns all Calgarians, native and transplants. Get informed, save our past to enjoy in the future!"

It is important that the public let Culture and Community Spirit Minister Lindsay Blackett know that we care about the Calgary Brewing and Malting Site, and that is is worthy of provincial designation, as noted in the information above.

You can cc. your own MLA and ask them to get involved. On this page you can find out who your own MLA is and get their contact info, or download contact information for multiple MLAs:
http://www.assembly.ab.ca/lao/mla/mla_help.htm

Here is a pdf of the below call to action, download it (right click on the link and choose "save link as" or "save target as" and email it to your friends, or print it out and hand it out to everyone you know!

The Calgary Public Library has a blog on heritage issues, including recent entries on the brewery, and a reminder that the venerable Burns Building across from City Hall was also deemed unsalvageable by some...

As regular readers of this thread know, the Province has ordered a Heritage Resource Impact Assessment of the brewery site buildings proposed for demolition. (see above ^) What does that mean? Below is an excerpt of the HRIA order. The HRIA, once completed, is to be reviewed by Ministerial staff to ensure it was done by competent professionals and that the conclusions are consistent with the site analysis. It is then reviewed by the Minister for a decision.

1.0 HISTORIC RESOURCES IMPACT ASSESSMENTAn Historic Resources Impact Assessment in the form of a “Site Analysis and Recommendations” is to be written by a heritage building preservation specialist with familiarity with the evaluation of historic resources using the Standards and Guidelines for the Conservation of Historic Places in Canada. A list of qualified individuals may be obtained from the Historic Resources Management Branch.

Purpose: The purpose of the Historic Resources Impact Assessment is to evaluate the site to determine its significance and integrity (see attached document Evaluating Historic Resources in Alberta). The analysis report must consider the site’s importance under the province’s five Significance Criteria and provide an overview of the current condition of all buildings proposed for demolition. Additionally, the Historic Resources Impact Assessment must also include recommendations for the documentation, salvage, and/or preservation of the site based upon the analysis of its significance and condition.

Timing: The Historic Resources Impact Assessment is to be carried out prior to the initiation of any activities that may impact the Calgary Brewing and Malting Company Brewery site or its setting.

Coverage: Only the buildings proposed for demolition must be assessed. (Newsposter note: We are concerned that the decision take the whole site context into consideration. A 1997 HRIA done by Molson did look at the whole site. It's conclusion is reproduced in the next post. You can read it at the Calgary Public Library, downtown branch, in the Local History Collection)

Contents: The report must include an executive summary and the following: